Pacific Tourism Organisation undergoes a Strategic Review

Having survived the pandemic, The Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) recognizes the need to reassess its approaches to crisis response and resilience, so as to ensure that the organisation can best serve its membership in the coming years.

In partnership with the Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) Phase IV, SPTO has this week begun a strategic review exercise with Ms. Kylie Ruwhiu-Karawana of TRC tourism.

In acknowledging the project SPTO CEO Christopher Cocker mentioned that the review process would be all-encompassing, capturing the ambitions of the current and historic SPTO Strategies and analyzing the current role of the organisation alongside the roles of similar tourism bodies in other regions. He also noted that Ms. Ruwhiu-Karawana would have consultation sessions with the SPTO team and some of the organisation’s Suva – based stakeholders.

“We are grateful to ADB’s PSDI team for partnering with us to enable this pertinent piece of work, which is important as the Pacific tourism climate remains uncertain during this dynamic recovery period. We recognize that this exercise will help us to better understand where our focus should lie in moving and this will ultimately benefit our members and the wider Pacific Tourism industry”, he said.

The strategic review will culminate in an accurate articulation of SPTO’s core competencies and value proposition, which will support the following:

• Development of a Donor and Development Partner Framework, aimed at strengthening the organisation’s financial resilience
• Development of the next SPTO Strategic Plan in 2024